Setting: My bedroom, 00:00 – 07:00, Dad at home but in bed and a note has been left to inform him I'm tripping.

Mind Set: Excited. I haven't tripped in a few months and I've been looking forward to trying this combo properly for about a year. I've finally sourced both things (and managed to save enough the K without doing it all by itself!), I've also been waiting till I've had enough time off work to fully recover and enjoy the trip.

Pre-Trip
It's 23:30 and I've just return from doing a 20:00-23:00 shift for a charity I volunteer for. Ideally I'd have started the trip earlier in the night, but I have the next 2 days off work so I know I'll have long enough to recover without too much worry. If I wait till tomorrow night I won't have a full 2 days to recover, which I know I will need. Tonight is the night.

I prepare a primary I.M. shot of 12-15mg 4-AcO-DMT, a I.M. shot of 180mg Ketamine for a hopeful K-hole mid way through the trip, and an I.V. shot of 5-8mg 4-AcO-DMT & 20mg Ketamine to get me where I want to be (if the primary 4-AcO shot doesn't get me there).

I'm experienced with various psychedelics and dissociatives taken through various ROA's. Such as 4-AcO-DMT (Snorted, Eaten, I.M'd [once before]) and I.V'd (once before), Ketamine (Snorted & I.M'd various times, I.V'd once), 3-MeO-PCP (Snorted, Eaten, I.M'd), 4-Meo-PCP (Eaten), Methoxetamine (Sublingual, Snorted, I.M'd), Salvia and various other Tryptamines and Phenthylamines (only a few times with each). I've had various experiences, some good, some challenging, some life changing, some mediocre, but never have I come in to contact with any other entities (apart from once on Smoked DMT where I didn't really communicate with them much, and they just seemed like clown faces in part of a machine, I was totally aware I was just tripping during this experience though).

I'm also experienced with Stimulants and the hallucinations/psychosis which can occur with these.

I enjoy hallucinogens but what's put me off “stronger” trips is the amount of dissociation and surrealness that comes with them, which I find hard to incorporate in any meaningful way to my day to day live. I trip for personal development rather than to visit 'other worlds', and I feel people are easily caught up in trying to explain this kind of dissociation and these other realities rather than seeing them as a learning experience to develop the self.

Anyway, that's enough blabbing, and here is my account of conversing with what I can only describe, as McKenna puts it, “The Machine Elves”. I can't remember the exact order of events, and there are some totally blank patches in my memory, but I'll try to put the experience together as coherently as possible.

T+00:00 – I have the shots prepared, and have a bit of Ketamine left over to snort as I start coming 'back to reality'. Perfect. I've tried I.M 4-AcO-DMT at about 20mg before, and it was a strong trip, but nothing like what I'm about to witness. I put the drugs/prepared shots in to my bedside draw and move my laptop from my desk to beside my bed. I then inject the first 12-14mg shot in to my right thigh. I sit on the floor and tap the side of my Tibetan singing bowl to start to meditate a bit as I come up.

T+00:05 – It comes on faster than I remember and I start to cough a bit, I think I might be sick but the nausea fades within 5 minutes. I'm at a ++ within minutes so I lay in my bed and put a favourite tripping album of mine on “Ayreon – Into the Electric Castle” with the visualiztion on winamp playing.

T+00:30 – I'm at a +++ in about 30 minutes. I listen to the first few tracks of the album and then decide to do the 5-8mg/20mg 4-AcO-DMT & ketamine I.V shot (why let it go to waste I think), it's easier to hit a vein than I thought it'd be when tripping this hard and I register without trouble. I've tried both substances I.V'd on their own before but I haven't enjoyed the experience, it seems to be over before it's truly began. But this time it's different. I turn off the music.

T+00:32 – I'm catapulted into an alternate dimension (++++), am I in another universe or a parallel dimension? With my eyes closed I'm in a room filled with beings, they all seem to be part of a machine made from colourful patterns. They all gather round me, seeming shocked. Later on it doesn't really matter whether my eyes are closed or open.

T+00:40 – 03:00 – They seem shocked and I apologise if I've barged in on something, I didn't intend to. They inform me that it's ok, they're just as surprised to see me as I am to see them. Can this really be real? I've listened to McKenna speak about Machine Elves in his talks, and I even though I experienced them (albeit less intensely) on DMT before. But by in large I took them to be a product of McKenna's over-active imagination in combination with high doses of mushrooms and DMT. But here I am, in their world, conversing with them.

I spend the next few hours asking them questions and agreeing with them at how interesting it is.

Me - “Are you the “Machine Elves” McKenna talks about”?

They seem bemused.

Them - “what are “elves”?” they ask.

Me - I explain 'they're magic beings which are part of Human folklore in different cultures”

They all laugh! They like the idea of being seen as “magical” entities, it seems like they think it's ridiculous but are happy to have the association. I also explain to them the “Machine” part and explain that to us it seems as though they're made of some complex machinery (I can hear beeps and blops kind of like RT2D as their colourful surface/skin moves in different directions, and there's also the noise of how you imagine a robot/car factory machine moves its arms or legs “vvvt, vvvt, vvvt”. When I speak aloud my voice and the noises I make kind of “echo” slightly around their room, different acoustics to how my bedroom is.

“What do you [call] yourselves in your own language?”

They make a complex noise incorporating the noises I explain earlier. I can't remember or repeat it. They ask my name and I tell them speaking in English. It doesn't seem to matter which way I talk to them.

I communicate with them via thought for the questions and also kind of speaking in tongues and “bleeps & blops” when talking small talk. They put food in my mouth and I take drinks from them, I can't taste anything but I can feel it in my mouth. I thank them using the small talk language. I put my arm out to see if I can touch them and they hold my hand.

I put my arm out to see if I can touch them and they hold my hand.

Some are made from long complex tentacles, others look different but I can't remember their features. I turn round and there are more behind me, they jump back startled when I turn to face them but then come in closer to look at me.

Me - “Do many humans end up here (or any other beings for that matter!)?”

They say they've heard of it but they've never witnessed it. We talk about whether they're in another universe entirely or if they're over-lapping our reality, and come to the conclusion there must be some kind of overlap.

I apologise again for barging in, but they reassure me it's ok. It's an interesting experience all around and they're glad I'm there, even if it was a shock at first.

I think back to a previous trip where I experienced an ego death/unitive experience.

I ask them if they understand the concept of oneness. And if so, how can they exist if everything is “One”.

They tell me that the concept seems plausible, but asking how they can exist is like them asking how humans can exist. Even if oneness is a reality it doesn't mean different life forms couldn't develop separately. I'm surprised they aren't some kind of wholly enlightened race or something (though maybe I was naive to think that in the first place?)

I tell them how humans evolved on earth as best I can with my limited scientific knowledge and tell them we're carbon based lifeforms made of organic matter.

I ask when how they came to be, or what they're made of, but they don't seem to understand. It's as though they've been this way for as long as they can remember.

T+04:00 – After conversing for a few hours and being fed and watered by them I tell them how I ended up here (via the drug) and ask if there is more to their world outside of this “room” I've found myself in. They tell me there is,but they don't know how they could show me. It seems as though I must be some kind of apparition to them, not fully solid in their world, and unable to move around properly.

I explain it'd be great to come and visit again, perhaps being able to bring a friend and they tell me that I'm welcome. I ask if I'll end up back with them or in some other part of their world (or a different place altogether) and they say they don't know.

I then remember the Ketamine shot and ask them if it'd be ok to do it now, or if that'd be disrespectful. Will you be here when I get back? Or perhaps you'll be able to come with me?

They say they're not sure again, but they'd like to come with me if possible because it'd be another new experience for them. I agree and take the shot from my draw.

T+05:00 – I come round about an hour or 2 later and don't remember anything of the K-hole, the beings are gone but I'm still tripping from the 4-AcO-DMT slightly. I snorted some more Ketamine and try to put Ayreon back and figure it out for a minute, but then mess it up trying to find the visualisation. I quit after a few minutes and just lay back contemplating what just happened.

T+05:30 – I see that I have about 100mg Ketamine left in the baggie so squirt some water in and prepare a final I.M shot of ketamine. I put on a Sci-fi ASMR video (a new addition to my coming down from tripping kit) and get sucked in to a nice immersive story. It's called something like 'Transpersonal Healing Clinic' and sounds like exactly what I need.

T+07:00 - It was the perfect way to end the most intense trip of my life. Afterwards I snort some etizolam powder and sleep until 6pm the next day.

The next day I feel like I could eat a horse and devour dinner, and ice-cream and some cereal bars. My dad can tell I'm still a bit spaced out, but he doesn't ask questions. I've explained to him the reason I trip a few months previously and told him how much it's helped me in the past, we agree'd it's ok to trip in the house as long as I'm careful. I then go back to bed and sleep until 12:30 the next day.

I feel psychically rejuvenated, but mentally I'm still coming to terms with what happened.

I feel psychically rejuvenated, but mentally I'm still coming to terms with what happened.

Could I have really visited another world, or were the beings just a projection of how I would perceive the Machine Elves to be. After all, why did I seem to be the only one asking questions?

But if that's the case, why have others reported such similar experiences?

It was an interesting trip, but I don't think I'll try to repeat it any time soon. It would be easy to get pre-occupied with trying to explain the other worlds instead of developing your “inner-self”, which I said before is the main aim of why I trip.

I've read about Hindu “Siddihs”, in which Sadhus report psychic abilities but are told to ignore them, as they are just a distraction from recognising the ultimate reality (oneness). Perhaps visiting these other worlds is one such Siddih.

I hope to visit them again one day (perhaps with another person as an observer). But for now I will stick to lower dose trips and other non-drug induced psychonautic experiences.

I know this all seems a bit crazy, but I also know there are people out there who know exactly what I'm talking about or have had very similar experiences. Take from it what you will.

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